If you haven’t already heard, we released update version 1.7 of Speak for Yourself last week. This update allows users the ability to save and restore the vocabulary and photos to iTunes and Dropbox from within the app. Previously, backing up vocabulary meant that the iPad had to be connected to a computer and a series of “File Sharing” steps had to be taken to insure that all of the personal customization in Speak for Yourself was safe, and transferring of photos was a cumbersome, frustrating process.
Those days are over. With this new update, backing up and restoring vocabulary AND photos is – dare I say – easy. To be sure that everyone has the confidence to protect the work that goes into making an Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) system personal and customized for an individual, here are the step by step instructions with photos. I suggest you grab a favorite beverage (not too close to the electronics of course) and give it a try.
Make sure of these three things, before we start:
1. Your iPad(s) is/are connected to wifi and the connection is strong.
2. You have a Dropbox account, and you know your username and password. If not, you can download the Dropbox app here or go to the Dropbox website here. Dropbox is free. If you don’t feel like doing it ahead of time, you will be prompted through it during the backup process in Speak for Yourself.
3. You have enabled the programming for Speak for Yourself in the iPad settings and that you’re using version 1.7 or above of Speak for Yourself.
Backing up to iTunes and Dropbox:
1. Press the daisy/setting icon in the upper right hand corner.
2. Touch Vocabulary.
3. Touch Backup the Vocabulary and Photos.
4. Select the backup method you would like to use. If you are backing up to Dropbox, you will have to allow the Speak4Yourself app to access your Dropbox account. That just means you are allowing the two apps to communicate. We don’t have access to anything in your Dropbox account.:-)
*We recommend that you backup to iTunes occasionally, even if you use Dropbox. If something happens to the vocabulary, and you do not have a wifi connection, you still have access to the iTunes backup within the iPad.*
If you backup to iTunes, you will see this: If you backup to Dropbox, you will see this:
5. When you get the message that “The backup file was copied to iTunes” or “Backup file was uploaded” (Dropbox), touch Done. If you are backing up to Dropbox, you are in fact done. You did it! The vocabulary and photos are saved to your Dropbox account, which you can access from any iPad. If you want to send a link to the vocabulary file to someone else…home to a parent for their iPad or to your child’s speech-language pathologist, go into the Dropbox app, click on the file, and send it from there. Breathe a sigh of relief that all of your programming efforts are safe. Hopefully your coffee is still hot (or your martini or beer is still cold).
6. If you backed up to iTunes, your file is saved within the iPad, but if the iPad shatters, gets lost, or falls in the toilet, so does your vocabulary file. Connect to the computer and sync the iPad so that your vocabulary file is saved externally…just in case. You did it! Now you can breathe a sigh of relief that all of your programming efforts are safe. Hopefully your coffee is still hot (or your martini or beer is still cold too).
Restoring from iTunes and Dropbox:
1. Follow steps 1 and 2 above. If you have not already backed up and you do NOT want to lose your current vocabulary, save it before you proceed.
2. Touch Restore the Vocabulary and Photos.
3. Select the method you would like to use to restore the vocabulary.
If you select iTunes, you will see this: If you select Dropbox, you will see this:
4. Read the warning and make sure you are overwriting the file you DO NOT want or that you have already saved. Then, select the file you’d like to load.
5. Select Done and the saved vocabulary file and photos will appear.
6. If you want to transfer a vocabulary file through iTunes onto a different iPad, you will need to connect the “new” iPad to the computer and “add” the saved file from your computer to the app file sharing area of the “new” iPad.
It’s much easier to use Dropbox to transfer files between iPads.
It’s a good idea to backup the app when you’ve done a lot of programming, opened a lot of new vocabulary, or when you feel like it’s been a long time since you’ve backed it up. You can also set a weekly or monthly alarm on your phone calendar to backup the app because life is busy.
That’s all…consider yourself tech-savvy!
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